Early on Saturday, a jet of a Siberian airline Utair skidded off the runway during rough landing in the Russian city of Sochi, slid into a river and eventually caught fire.
"At the moment, there are 18 injured, including three children. There are no fatalities," the ministry said in a statement. All 160 people on board were evacuated. The blaze has been put out, local emergency services said.
An emergency official told Sputnik earlier that six people were injured, four were hospitalized with burns. There were 164 passengers and six crew on board.
"The Boeing737 from Moscow rolled off the runway during landing at the Sochi airport and caught fire. According to the preliminary data, six people were injured," an emergency official said.
The Utair airline said Flight UT579 going from Moscow to Sochi skidded into a river, damaging the undercarriage and a wing and causing the left engine to go up in flames.
"There were 164 passengers and six crew on board. Sochi airport firefighters extinguished the flames and evacuated the people. There are no fatalities," the air carrier said.
Utair said it was investigating the incident together with aviation authorities. A spokesperson for the Sochi airport said there were no delays, planes were taking off and landing as usual.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the incident. "A criminal investigation has been opened into the emergency landing… on suspicion of inadequate services with a risk to clients’ health," the southern transport department of Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
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